Transformation of social norms around Female Gender Mutilation (FGM) in Sikasso, Mali
Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a harmful practice with no health benefits. Instead, it poses many serious short- and long-term health risks, including death. FGM/C is internationally recognized as a violation of the human rights of girls and women. As it is almost always performed on minors, it is also a violation of children’s rights. FGM/C is a cultural practice that is both caused by and contributes to gender inequality and discrimination against women.
Despite some reduction in overall FGM/C prevalence rates over the past two decades, Mali remains one of the countries in the world with the highest prevalence rates of FGM: 89% of women aged 15-49 and 73% of girls aged 0-14 have undergone FGM/C.
With FGM II, Plan International seeks to build on the achievements and lessons learned from previous interventions with a greater focus on changing social norms around FGM/C at the community level to increase the impact of our work on FGM/C in Mali. This means that in addition to providing information on the immediate and long-term harmful consequences and risks, the project aims to:
- Address the religious justification for practice and disassociate it from religion.
- Challenge negative values and norms about female sexuality in general that contribute to the acceptability of the practice.
- Change attitudes and norms related to FGM/C at the community level to enable people to refrain from cutting their daughters without fear of social sanctions.
The project is funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Danida) and has a duration of 19 months, from June 2021 to December 2022.
Impact:
The direct and immediate beneficiaries of the project are mainly girls aged zero to five years who have not yet been cut, who will be able to benefit from a postponement of the procedure thanks to an awareness-raising campaign for their parents and a process of reflection and debate on the practice within their communities. In addition, girls and women will benefit from treatment of the physical and/or psycho-social complications they experience. In the medium term, all members of the target communities will benefit from a transformation of social norms around FGM/C that will enable them to abandon this harmful practice collectively and without fear of social sanctions.
